{"id":15170,"date":"2017-11-16T17:10:44","date_gmt":"2017-11-16T17:10:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/?p=15170"},"modified":"2017-11-16T17:10:44","modified_gmt":"2017-11-16T17:10:44","slug":"arabic-parsing-vs-diacritics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/arabic-parsing-vs-diacritics\/","title":{"rendered":"Arabic Parsing vs. Diacritics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In acquiring Arabic, it is exceedingly essential that articulation rules, namely diacritics <strong>\u0627\u0644\u062d\u064e\u0631\u064e\u0643\u064e\u0627\u062a<\/strong>, be known from the outset. Knowing how to pronounce sounds and words intelligibly leads to better learning and communication. The ability to pronounce words effortlessly speeds up vocabulary acquisition and retention. Likewise, proper pronunciation leads to more comprehensible speech. This post is about role of diacritics <strong>\u0627\u0644\u062d\u064e\u0631\u064e\u0643\u064e\u0627\u062a<\/strong> and parsing <strong>\u0627\u0644\u0625\u0650\u0639\u0652\u0631\u064e\u0627\u0628<\/strong> in Arabic.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-15171\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2017\/11\/diacritics.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"498\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2017\/11\/diacritics.png 884w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2017\/11\/diacritics-350x232.png 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2017\/11\/diacritics-768x510.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In most world languages, vowels play a key role in pronunciation. That is, it is vowels that cause irregularity in pronunciation. Take English as a typical example. The difference in pronunciation between \u2018them\u2019 and \u2018theme\u2019, \u2018hug\u2019 and \u2018huge\u2019, \u2018not\u2019 and \u2018note\u2019, \u2018hid\u2019 and \u2018hide\u2019 and so forth is triggered by a vowel. In Arabic, the source of difference in meaning between <strong>\u0639\u064e\u0644\u0650\u0645\u064e<\/strong>, <strong>\u0639\u064e\u0644\u064e\u0645\u064c<\/strong>, <strong>\u0639\u0650\u0644\u0652\u0645\u064c<\/strong>, and <strong>\u0639\u064e\u0644\u0651\u064e\u0645\u064e<\/strong> is the vowels. Similarly, it is vowels that makes Arabic word-order more flexible, hence you can have three or more variants of the same sentence. Vowels in Arabic are basically the diacritical marks.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Diacritics <\/strong><strong>\u0627\u0644\u062d\u064e\u0631\u064e\u0643\u064e\u0627\u062a:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Diacritics in Arabic are marks that accompany consonants. They are sometimes called short vowels. The vowel system in Arabic is a simple one as it includes only three vowels. These are the <em>fatHah <\/em><strong>\u064e<\/strong><em>\u00a0 <\/em>, <em>kasrah<\/em> <strong>\u0650<\/strong>\u00a0 , and <em>DHammah<\/em> \u064f . Besides these, there are two others: <em>sukuun<\/em> <strong>\u0652<\/strong>\u00a0 and <em>shaddah<\/em> \u0651. <em>tanween<\/em> is a variant for each of the first three, and it has a grammatical value for it indicates indefiniteness of nouns and adjective. <em>Shaddah <\/em>has seven variants: plain, with <em>fatHah<\/em>, with <em>kasrah<\/em>, with <em>DHammah<\/em>, and with <em>tanween<\/em>. Hence, there are fourteen Arabic diacritical marks, as summarized in the table image above.<\/p>\n<p>Since it has seven variants, let me dismantle the complexity of <em>shaddah<\/em>. In English, a sequence of two consonants is called a <em>geminate<\/em>, as in \u2018innate\u2019. It is basically the same in Arabic. <em>Shaddah <\/em>is s a sequence of two Arabic consonants. The first consonant must be accompanied with a <em>sukuun<\/em>, then second is companied by a <em>fatHah<\/em>, a <em>kasrah<\/em>, a <em>DHammah<\/em>, or their <em>tanween <\/em>variants. What about the \u2018plain\u2019 <em>shaddah<\/em>? It is sequenced of two consonants each is accompanied by a <em>sukuun.<\/em> Here are examples:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>\u0643\u064e \u062a\u0652 \u062a\u064e \u0628\u064e<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0becomes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <strong>\u0643\u064e\u062a\u0651\u064e\u0628\u064e<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018to cause someone to write\u2019<\/li>\n<li><strong>\u0627\u0644 \u062d\u064f \u0628\u0652 \u0628\u064f<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0becomes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <strong>\u0627\u0644\u0640\u062d\u064f\u0628\u0651\u064f<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018the love\u2019<\/li>\n<li><strong>\u0639\u064f \u0644\u0652 \u0644\u0650 \u0645\u064e<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 becomes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <strong>\u0639\u064f\u0644\u0651\u0650\u0645\u064e<\/strong> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018was educated\u2019<\/li>\n<li><strong>\u062d\u064f \u0631\u0652 \u0631\u0652 <\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 becomes \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <strong>\u062d\u064f\u0631\u0651<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018be free\u2019<\/li>\n<li><strong>\u062d\u064f \u0631\u0652 \u0631\u064b\u0627<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 becomes \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <strong>\u062d\u064f\u0631\u0651\u064b\u0627<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018be a free \u2026\u2019<\/li>\n<li><strong>\u062d\u064f \u0631\u0652 \u0631\u064c<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0becomes \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <strong>\u062d\u064f\u0631\u0651\u064c<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018be a free \u2026\u2019<\/li>\n<li><strong>\u062d\u064f \u0631\u0652 \u0631\u064d<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0becomes \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <strong>\u062d\u064f\u0631\u0651\u064d<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018be a free \u2026\u2019<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>The Role of Diacritics:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Besides pronunciation, another primary role of Arabic diacritical marks is meaning-related. That is, they disambiguate words as they distinguish nouns from verbs, active verbs from passive verbs, and transitive verbs from intransitive ones, as in the table below:<\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"60\"><u>\u00a0<\/u><\/td>\n<td width=\"150\"><u>verb (active)<\/u><\/td>\n<td width=\"150\"><u>verb (passive)<\/u><\/td>\n<td width=\"156\"><u>causative verb <\/u><\/td>\n<td width=\"108\"><u>noun <\/u><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"60\"><strong>\u0634\u0631\u0628<\/strong><\/td>\n<td width=\"150\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>\u0634\u064e\u0631\u0650\u0628\u064e<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2018he drank \u2026\u2019<\/td>\n<td width=\"150\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>\u0634\u064f\u0631\u0650\u0628\u064e<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2018\u2026 was drunk.\u2019<\/td>\n<td width=\"156\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>\u0634\u064e\u0631\u0651\u064e\u0628\u064e<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2018\u2026 make sb drink \u2026\u2019<\/td>\n<td width=\"108\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>\u0634\u064f\u0631\u0652\u0628\u064c<\/strong><strong>\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2018drinking\u2019<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"60\"><strong>\u0639\u0644\u0645<\/strong><\/td>\n<td width=\"150\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>\u0639\u064e\u0644\u0650\u0645\u064e<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2018he knew \u2026\u2019<\/td>\n<td width=\"150\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>\u0639\u064f\u0644\u0650\u0645\u064e<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2018\u2026 was known\u2019<\/td>\n<td width=\"156\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>\u0639\u064e\u0644\u0651\u064e\u0645\u064e<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2018\u2026 made sb know \u2026\u2019<\/td>\n<td width=\"108\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>\u0639\u0650\u0644\u0652\u0645\u064c<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2018knowledge\u2019<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"60\"><strong>\u0644\u0628\u0633<\/strong><\/td>\n<td width=\"150\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>\u0644\u064e\u0628\u0650\u0633\u064e<\/strong><strong>\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2018he wore \u2026\u2019<\/td>\n<td width=\"150\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>\u0644\u064f\u0628\u0650\u0633\u064e<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2018\u2026 was worn\u2019<\/td>\n<td width=\"156\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>\u0644\u064e\u0628\u0651\u064e\u0633\u064e<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2018\u2026 made sb wear \u2026\u2019<\/td>\n<td width=\"108\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>\u0644\u0650\u0628\u0652\u0633\u064c<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2018dress\u2019<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Parsing \u0627\u0644\u0625\u0650\u0639\u0652\u0631\u064e\u0627\u0628:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You might have come across <strong>\u0625\u0650\u0639\u0652\u0631\u064e\u0627\u0628<\/strong> \u2018parsing\u2019 in the course of your Arabic learning to date. Parsing is the assignment of diacritical marks to word endings. This grammatical feature is notoriously difficult among native speakers of Arabic since its natural usage has been lost from everyday communicative use of Arabic. That is, as the child picks up Arabic, he\/she never hears this feature in the daily linguistic input of the people around him\/her.<\/p>\n<p>Essentially, diacritical marks at word endings are called <em>cases<\/em>. There are four cases in Arabic: <strong>\u0645\u064e\u0631\u0652\u0641\u064f\u0648\u0639<\/strong> \u2018nominative\u2019, <strong>\u0645\u0646\u064e\u0635\u064f\u0648\u0628<\/strong> \u2018accusative\u2019, <strong>\u0645\u064e\u062c\u0652\u0631\u064f\u0648\u0631<\/strong> \u2018genitive\u2019, and <strong>\u0645\u064e\u062c\u0652\u0632\u064f\u0648\u0645<\/strong> \u2018jussive\u2019. Here I briefly elaborate on the first three with respect to <em>nouns <\/em>and <em>adjectives <\/em>only. Take the word <strong>\u0627\u0644\u0643\u0650\u062a\u064e\u0627\u0628<\/strong> \u2018the book\u2019, it has three variants according to its position in the sentence: <strong>\u0627\u0644\u0643\u0650\u062a\u064e\u0627\u0628\u064f<\/strong>, <strong>\u0627\u0644\u0643\u0650\u062a\u064e\u0627\u0628\u064e<\/strong>, <strong>\u0627\u0644\u0643\u0650\u062a\u064e\u0627\u0628\u0650<\/strong>. So, how does this matter?<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600\">The Role of Parsing:<\/span> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Parsing in Arabic impacts the language in two ways. First, it makes the language more spontaneous. That is, when you add cases to word endings, speech becomes more natural and connected with very few pauses between words. For example, in the table below, the sentences that have both diacritics and parsing added are pronounced a lot faster, more naturally, and with fewer pauses between words, compared to the two sets.<\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"174\"><u>no diacritics<\/u><\/td>\n<td width=\"216\"><u>with diacritics<\/u><\/td>\n<td width=\"234\"><u>with diacritics and parsing<\/u><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"174\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>\u0643\u062a\u0628 \u0627\u0644\u0648\u0644\u062f \u0627\u0644\u062f\u0631\u0633. <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td width=\"216\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>\u064a\u064e\u0643\u0652\u062a\u064f\u0628 \u0627\u0644\u0648\u064e\u0644\u064e\u062f \u0627\u0644\u062f\u0651\u064e\u0631\u0652\u0633. <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td width=\"234\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>\u064a\u064e\u0643\u0652\u062a\u064f\u0628\u064f \u0627\u0644\u0648\u064e\u0644\u064e\u062f\u064f \u0627\u0644\u062f\u0651\u064e\u0631\u0652\u0633\u064e. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>\u064a\u064e\u0643\u0652\u062a\u064f\u0628\u064f \u0627\u0644\u062f\u0651\u064e\u0631\u0652\u0633\u064e \u0627\u0644\u0648\u064e\u0644\u064e\u062f\u064f. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>\u0627\u0644\u0648\u064e\u0644\u064e\u062f\u064f \u0627\u0644\u062f\u0651\u064e\u0631\u0652\u0633\u064e \u064a\u064e\u0643\u0652\u062a\u064f\u0628\u064f. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>\u0627\u0644\u062f\u0651\u064e\u0631\u0652\u0633\u064e \u064a\u064e\u0643\u0652\u062a\u064f\u0628\u064f \u0627\u0644\u0648\u064e\u0644\u064e\u062f\u064f. <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"174\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>\u0644\u0628\u0633\u062a \u0627\u0644\u062b\u0648\u0628 \u0627\u0644\u062c\u062f\u064a\u062f\u060c \u0648\u062d\u0636\u0631\u062a \u062d\u0641\u0644 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u062f\u0631\u0633\u0629.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td width=\"216\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>\u0644\u064e\u0628\u0650\u0633\u0652\u062a \u0627\u0644\u062b\u0651\u064e\u0648\u0652\u0628 \u0627\u0644\u062c\u064e\u062f\u0650\u064a\u0652\u062f\u060c \u0648\u062d\u064e\u0636\u064e\u0631\u0652\u062a \u062d\u064e\u0641\u0652\u0644 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u064e\u062f\u0652\u0631\u064e\u0633\u064e\u0629.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td width=\"234\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>\u0644\u0650\u0628\u0652\u0633\u0652\u062a\u064f \u0627\u0644\u062a\u0651\u064e\u0648\u0652\u0628\u064e \u0627\u0644\u062c\u064e\u062f\u0650\u064a\u0652\u062f\u064e\u060c \u0648\u064e\u062d\u064e\u0636\u064e\u0631\u0652\u062a\u064f \u062d\u064e\u0641\u0652\u0644\u064e \u0627\u0644\u0645\u064e\u062f\u0652\u0631\u064e\u0633\u064e\u0629\u0650.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>In addition, parsing makes Arabic less bound by word-order rules. As you can see under the third column, the first sentence can have four variants provided that diacritical marks of parsing are added.<\/p>\n<p>Is parsing difficult? No, not really. Once you become acquainted with sentence analysis, you should be able to parse any sentence. I will dedicate a post for this at some point.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<img width=\"350\" height=\"232\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2017\/11\/diacritics-350x232.png\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2017\/11\/diacritics-350x232.png 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2017\/11\/diacritics-768x510.png 768w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2017\/11\/diacritics.png 884w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><p>In acquiring Arabic, it is exceedingly essential that articulation rules, namely diacritics \u0627\u0644\u062d\u064e\u0631\u064e\u0643\u064e\u0627\u062a, be known from the outset. Knowing how to pronounce sounds and words intelligibly leads to better learning and communication. The ability to pronounce words effortlessly speeds up vocabulary acquisition and retention. Likewise, proper pronunciation leads to more comprehensible speech. This post is&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/arabic-parsing-vs-diacritics\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":148,"featured_media":15171,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3525,6,11],"tags":[49757,462721,462680,462720],"class_list":["post-15170","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arabic-language","category-grammar","category-pronunciation","tag-arabic-diacritics","tag-arabic-parsing","tag-diacritics","tag-parsing"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/148"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15170"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15174,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15170\/revisions\/15174"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}